plug in and play vs control how to get your tone?

[60jbass91]

i always see people writing about plug in and play bass amps but not alot of people share their settings on their more complicated amps like the shuttle max 12.0 how do you get your tone out of a plug in and play bass amp because surely your going to just sound like everyone else who has that amp. what is the difference between plug in and play and getting your tone? if you tone was plug in and play would you consider it generic? just some questions for some of you legends out there i know you browse talkbass i just hope you people would humble my 19 years by sharing some of your knowledge

[JimmyM]

you're operating on an incorrect assumption. you're assuming that everyone will sound the same through an amp with the same settings. that is so not the case. in addition to the different basses that are out there, people do not all play alike. people's playing styles always override any amps they use. you can have 5 different people play the exact same bass and amp with the exact same settings and they will all sound different because of the way they play. some play hard, some play light, some play over the bridge, some play over the neck, some have a lot of space between notes, some don't, etc.

as for the definition of plug in and play, it usually means being able to plug into an amp quickly with a minimum of tonal tweaking and no extra pedals or preamps. doesn't mean that they'll all have the same eq settings, but they'll be able to find their settings quickly and easily every time. for some it's everything at noon. for some they have favorite eq's that always work for them. pretty much all amps are plug in and play to somebody.

[Deluge Of Sound]

+1 to Jimmy.

On my Orange, I'm dealing with a grand total of two EQ knobs, plus the FAC and the High frequency. The FAC is always on the furthest left, and the HF is always dialed real low. That's about as plug in and play as you get, but if need be I can adjust accordingly.

Now, is my tone generic? If by generic, you mean always good, I suppose it is.

[will33]

+2 to JimmyM.

You can leave every little thing the exact same and change only the player and you can have a vastly different sound. We go back and forth here about how this particular setup is better than that one, etc. and there is merit in that but the person playing the thing is always the biggest "what if".